Improvement in electro-chemical telegraphs



A. F. PARK.

Automatic Telegraph.

No. 56,988. Patented Aug. 7,1866,

lrveni'or UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICTLQ AUSTIN FORD .PAR-K, OF TROY, NEWYORK.

IMPROVEMENT lN ELECTRO-CHElVllCAL TELEGRAPHS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 56,988, dated August 7,1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUSTIN FORD PARK, of the city of Troy, in the countyof Rensselaer, and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Electro-Ohemical Telegraphs, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan, and Fig. 2 asectional elevation, of a mechanism used in carrying my said inventioninto operation, like parts being marked by the same letters in bothfigures, and their directions of motion indicated by arrows thereon.

My invention consists in the recording of telegraphic signs byelectrochemical action in a wet or moist and chemically-prepared line orpath made in and lengthwise of a comparatively wide and dry strip orfillet of paper as the latter is moved along to receive the tele graphicsigns.

In carrying this invention into operation I employ any suitable kind ofmechanical and electrochemical means or devices. Thus, for example, inthe mechanism represented by the aforesaid drawings the fillet of paperA is supported and moved along to receive the telegraphic signs by twoclamping-rollers, B O, and a guide, D 5 and as the fillet of paper isthus moved along the wet or moist and chemicallyprepared line or path Eis made therein by a rotary disk or wheel, F, mounted so that its loweredge is in a suitable chemical solution, G, in a reservoir, H, and itsupper or side edge against the fillet of paper where it wraps around theroller B, and the telegraphic signs I are recorded in the wet or moistand chemically-prepared line or path thus made in the paper by means ofa metallic pen-wire, J, constantly resting in the wet or moist line orpath,

and constituting therewith a part of a main or local telegraphiccircuit, in such manner that the chemical solution in the wet or moistline or path will corrode the metal pen-wire and thereby cause thelatter to make a colored mark on the moving paper during and inconsequence of the passage of each telegraphic pulsation of electricity.A good record of the telegraphic signs will generally be secured byhaving the pen-wire J of iron or steel and the chemical solution G ofyellow prussiate of potash dissolved in water and acidulated with nitricacid; and a good solution for like use may be made by mixing togethertwelve parts of water, seven'of a saturated solution of yellow prussiateof potash in water, one

and one-fourth of nitric acid, and two of concentrated ammonia; or Isometimes use a dry fillet of paper previously prepared by being steepedthroughout in a suitable chemical solution (for example, in a weaksolution of prussiate'of potash with or without nitrate of ammonia) andthen dried, and in such case make the wet or moist chemically-preparedline or path in the fillet of paper with water acidulated with nitricacid or other suitable liquid; but I generally prefer to effect theentire chemical preparation of the paper in the operation of wetting ormoistening the line or path for the reception of the telegraphic signs,and I sometimes wet or moisten the line or path in the moving fillet ofpaper by means of a common paper-ruling or other hollow reservoir-pen,but generally prefer to use for that purpose a very fine toothed rotarydisk or wheel F dipping in a reservoir, H, as above specified.

In the apparatus shown by the aforesaid drawings the upper roller, 0, ispressed toward the roller B by adjustable springs S S, so-that the tworollers will turn together and draw the paper along properly uponturning the roller B, and those rollers are longer than the width of thestrip of paper A, and the paper-guide D is adjustable lengthwise of therollers, so that the fillet of paper can be passed between the rollersin different positions in respect to the path-wetting wheel F andpen-wire J, and can consequently have a series of parallel rows oftelegraphic .signs recorded thereon, the same as is commonly the case inthe Morse electromagnetic telegraph.

The reservoirHis mounted on a standard, K, which can be screwed up anddown in a nut, L, fast on the wooden base M, so as to thereby make themoistening-disk F dip properly in a greater or less quantity of liquidin the reservoir, and the disk F is mounted on an axis,N, in a frame, 0,which is pivoted at one side, 1?, to the supports Q Q of the rollers andpressed toward the latter by an adjustable spring, It, so as to make thedisk 13 bear with an adjustable yielding pressure against the movingfillet of paper.

The pen-wire J is clamped to one end of a on the paper by a dead weight;and the telegraphic circuit is completed between the metallic pen-holdersupport V and roller-stand Q Q by the hub U, spring T, and pen-wire J,the Wet or moist line in the fillet of paper and the rollers B and O,and wheel F, axis N, and pivoted frame 0.

, By my aforesaid improvement of recording telegraphic signs byelectro-chemical action in a wet or moist chemically-prepared line orpath made in a strip or fillet of dry or nearly dry paper as the latteris moved along to re ceive the telegraphic signs, the recorded signs arepresented in a generally better or more convenient condition to be readand copied off than if they were recorded bya like electrochemicalaction in a spiral line on a revolving disk of wet or moistchemically-prepared paper, as in the well-known Bain electro-chemicaltelegraph; and by my said improvement the moving fillet of paper, withthe telegraphic signs just recorded thereon in the wet or moist .line orpath, is then, as a whole, in a much drier condition and far stiffer andstronger and less liable to be torn or injured, or to wet, soil, andcorrode the hands of a telegraph operator while he is handling thefillet of paper in receiving, reading, and copying 01f the telegraphicsigns, than if the latter were recorded by a like electrochemical actionon alike strip or fillet of paper made wet or moist with a like chemicalsolution throughout the whole width of the paper fillet while beingmoved along to receive the telegraphic signs.

Indeed, with my said improvement, the little dampness in the wet ormoist line or path is generally so quickly absorbed by the drier paperon each side of that line or path that the moving fillet of paper may behandled, in receiving and copying off the telegraphic signs, immediatelyafter they are recorded, with about the same ease, neatness, and freedomfrom liability of tearing the paper fillet as if the signs were recordedby indentation in a moving dry fillet of paper, as in the WellknownMorse electromagnetic telegraph.

'What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The recording of telegraphic signs by electro-chemical action in achemically-prepared wet or moist line or path made in a strip or filletof paper as the latter is moved along to receive the telegraphic signs,substantially as herein set fort AUSTIN FORD PARK.

Witnesses:

HORACE D. SHERRILL, LESLIE SMYTH.

